Rubber recovered from an almost two-month low on bets that demand from China, the world's largest user, may increase as buyers return from a week-long holiday.
The contract for March delivery on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange advanced as much as 1.3% to 257.5 yen a kilogramme ($2,652 a metric tonne) and traded at 255.4 yen at 11.06am local time. The price touched 253.8 on Oct 4, the lowest intra-day level since Aug 8. Futures slid 5.9% last week, the worst for a most-active contract since the five days through May 24.
The Shanghai Futures Exchange will reopen on Tuesday after National Day holidays. Rubber inventories in Qingdao, China's main hub for the commodity, fell to 283,100 tonnes as of Sept 16 from a record 371,000 tonnes on April 26, according to the Qingdao International Rubber Exchange. China may step up buying to replenish stockpiles, said Kazuhiko Saito, an analyst at broker Fujitomi Co in Tokyo.
"Expectations for a pick-up in Chinese demand provide support to futures," Saito said on Monday by phone.
Gains were limited as the Japanese currency strengthened against the dollar, weakening the appeal of yen-denominated contracts, as United States lawmakers continue to argue over raising the debt limit amid a government shutdown. US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said lawmakers will not raise the debt ceiling without packaging it with other provisions.
Thai rubber free-on-board fell for an eighth day on Oct 4, losing 0.3% to 78 baht (US$2.49) a kilogramme, according to the Rubber Research Institute of Thailand.